Underestimated u-1

by Jettie Woodruff

  “He beat the hell out of me but never told anyone that you belonged to another man. He would throw it up to me occasionally, but no one else knew.”

  “How did Michael find out about me?” I asked.

  “He came back six years later for the same reason. That find didn’t turn out to be the gold mine that he had hoped for. They were just some sort of crystals that wasn’t worth much. I was still waitressing at the truck stop. I spent the night with him and told him about you.” She snorted. “I was hoping that he would take us away from there. He didn’t, and he was gone before I woke up the next morning.”

  “I still don’t understand. How did you end up here? How did my little brother end up adopted by a family in Vegas? How did I end up married to a man that I didn’t even know?” I asked, not taking a breath from the never-ending questions.

  “Is he good to you, Morgan?” she asked, moving my hair from the front of my shoulder to the back.

  “Yes. He is very good to me,” I said. That wasn’t a lie. He was good to me. It just wasn’t always like that. What was I supposed to do, tell her that he took me to be his lawfully fuckable sexmate? To fuck and to suck in various positions until his orgasm do we part? I had a good feeling that she had been through a lot herself, and this was harder for her than I had originally thought.

  She smiled content with my answer. “Mr. Callaway showed up at the truck stop when you were close to eighteen. He had a whole slew of pictures from a private investigator that had been spying on me. He made me feel like a piece of shit when he showed me the pictures of the trailer back home and the living conditions that I allowed my children to live in. He had pictures of the church bringing in food, you in a thin worn coat, trying to pry frozen wood apart, Justin with the same clothes, three days in a row. I didn’t think I had a choice, Morgan. Please try to understand that I did this for you and Justin, not myself. I would have agreed had he not offered me one penny.”

  “He explained that he never knew about you until Michael was on his deathbed. I knew that you were going to marry Drew Kelley. I knew that Justin was going to be adopted by Hillary and Peter Dunn. They had tried to have kids for years and were not able to. I knew he would have a good home, and you would never want for anything.”

  I wanted for a lot of things, mostly love.

  “But the welfare department came and took him away. I was there when they did,” I assured her, still not understanding.

  “That was only temporary. Mr. Callaway arranged that until the paper work was complete. He wasn’t about to let him stay there. He didn’t want to take you until you graduated because you were so close. I could have stayed until then too, but I couldn’t stand the thought of being there without Justin and not being able to tell you what your future held.”

  “Where did you get all of the pictures?” I asked.

  “That was the deal. I would only agree to walk away quietly if I was insured that I would always know that you guys were okay. I have actually talked to Justin’s new mother. He was sick once, and she wanted to know about our family’s medical history.” My mom smiled. “She was so worried about him. They really do love him,” she added, happy of the fact. I smiled too, knowing that he was with a good family made me glad that things worked out the way that they had, if only for him.

  “I like your hair better your natural color. Blonde just isn’t you,” my mom said, playing with my hair again.

  I snickered. “I did that for Drew,” I replied. I did do it for him. I just didn’t have a say in the matter.

  “Tell me about him,” she coaxed.

  How was I supposed to do that? Oh, we have this amazing fucked up sex life.

  “Well, he’s busy. He works a lot.” I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t think of anything to tell her that wasn’t going to sound fucked up.

  “So things are good with you two?”

  I pondered for a second before speaking. “Not right at the moment. We are on a trial separation right now.”

  “But you’re going to work it out, right?” she asked, almost desperately.

  I shrugged my shoulders, and for the life of me, I don’t know why I had just blurted out the rest.

  “I’m kind of in love with someone else.”

  “Oh,” she said, surprised. “Are you still in love with Drew?”

  “I am so in love with Drew that I don’t know which way is up, but I am in love with a simple sheriff with a simple life too.”

  My mom smiled. “Life is a fucked up mess, Morgan, but it always seems to find a way to work its self out.”

  I laughed at her choice of words. I knew I had picked up my foul mouth from her. I just didn’t normally say it out loud. It was normally during conversations within in my own mind.

  “Tell me about Jason. I like him,” I said. She smiled. I could tell that she loved him.

  “Jason is a good man and a good father. I wished that you and Justin would have had that.”

  “I think Justin does have that,” I replied.

  “Mr. Callaway let me choose anywhere in the world that I wanted to live. He told me to make it count because I was only getting one chance and would be cut off from his wallet. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I’d never even been out of the hills before. A week after our first meeting a man showed up with an envelope. Do you remember the man that I had left with the day that I told you goodbye?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Of course I remembered that. I had nightmares about it.

  “Mr. Callaway had done some homework himself, and thought that this place would give me a fresh start, and I would be able to run a business here and be able to take care of myself. I loved the pictures and the thought of living on the beach. The problem was, I knew nothing about bookkeeping, taxes, or how to run a business. He hired Jason to work with me for a few months to get me started. He and I stayed in this huge house alone for three months. I think I fell in love with him the first night. Of course I thought he was way out of my league, and I didn’t have a chance,” she added. I could see how she felt that way. I felt that way about Drew. I didn’t think he could love a backyard, hillbilly like me.

  “Jason and I had so much fun together those first few weeks. I was upfront and honest with him from the beginning. He knew about you and Justin. I swear if he hadn’t been there during my many crying sprees I would have fed myself to the sharks.”

  “I was so mad when Drew told me that you were married and had a new family. I felt like you forgot us,” I sadly told her how I felt.

  “Oh, baby,” she said hugging me tight. “I have not gone one day without thinking about you both. We even have birthday cake for both of you every year,” she said in my hair.

  “You do?” I asked, pulling away to look at her.

  “Yes, we do. I know it’s silly, but I kind of like being silly. It makes me happy.”

  “I’m happy for you, mom,” I said. I was happy for her. This wasn’t what I had in mind at all. It wasn’t even close. I had planned on coming there for all of ten minutes, giving her a piece of my mind and spinning my tires out of there so fast. I was glad that my plan failed. I was glad that she had Jason and Caroline. I was glad that she was happy.

  “Caroline reminds me a lot of me,” I said with a smile.

  “She reminds me of you every day,” my mom assured me. “She is so smart, sometimes too smart for her own good,” she added with a smile. “Guess what she loves,” my mom persuaded.

  I shrugged my shoulders with a big smile. I was happy. I really was.

  “Peanut butter and pickles,” she laughed.

  I laughed too. That was my favorite food growing up. “I haven’t had one of those in years,” I said.

  “Oh, don’t worry. You will, just give it a day or two. How long are you staying?” she asked.

  I shrugged again. “I don’t have a deadline. I can leave whenever I want. I was supposed to be using this time to figure out what to do with these two difficult men in my life, but so far, I’m still a
t square one.”

  She smiled. “I hope it takes you a month,” she squealed, happy that I didn’t have to leave right away.

  Chapter 23

  “Amanda!” Jason yelled for my mom from the deck. We both turned to see him waving us toward the house.

  We walked the beach and to the deck hand in hand.

  “Someone must have known you were coming,” Jason said, holding a brown wrapped package for me.

  “Drew knew,” I said, taking the package. I wondered if I should open it in front of them, but it was small, so I figured it was safe, probably diamond earrings or something.

  I smiled when I pulled the black sea glass, dangling from a sterling silver chain. There was one diamond in the middle. I read his hand written note.

  “This was the best day of my life. I love you.”

  I know I was teary eyed. I couldn’t help it. He was doing things that blew my mind lately which made my case even worse. I loved him. That was the bottom line. I loved the twisted bastard.

  “Oh, my God!” Caroline squealed. “That is black. Where did you get that?” she asked, excited.

  “On the beach in Maine,” I replied, handing it to her to see.

  She looked at it wide eyed and amazed. “This could have come all the way from Italy.”

  I smiled. The girl knew her sea glass.

  “Do you hunt sea glass?” she asked, excited.

  “Yeah, I do. I have nine pieces now,” I told her.

  “Do you want to see mine?” she asked, excited.

  “I would love to,” I said, letting her take my hand and pull me to her bedroom.

  I noticed my mother and Jason’s reflection through the glass as I was being led away. He embraced her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. It made me happy. A lot of things were making me happy that day.

  I noticed my suitcase on the twin size bed in Caroline’s room. I was bunking with her. I know it sounds stupid, but I was giddy, thinking about sleeping in the twin size bed across from my little sister. I felt like we were having a slumber party.

  Caroline took a shoe box from the shelf in the closet. I looked around her room while she retrieved it. What I wouldn’t have done for a room like that when I was her age. The walls were pink. The two twin beds had matching pink quilts with dolphins. Her walls were covered with pictures of sea creatures and one of Justin Bieber. That one made me smile.

  She sat on the bed beside me and explained to me each and every piece of her sea glass. She remembered where and when she had found each piece. She even knew what they had probably come from.

  “I still haven’t found any black though,” she said. “I can’t believe you found black. Do you have any idea how rare that is?” she asked.

  “Yes, I do. I can’t believe I found it either.”

  “Hey, do you want to go with me in the morning? I’m getting up at six in the morning to go hunting. My dad said I had to wait until nine because he didn’t want to get up that early. I don’t want to wait that long. We’re going to get a big storm later and right after a storm is the best time. I’m afraid someone else will walk by and find it before me.”

  “I would love to get up at six and go with you,” I smiled at her. I just loved her to death. She hugged me.

  “I think I like having a big sister,” she said.

  “I think I like having a little sister,” I replied. She smiled the biggest smile ever.

  Jason grilled burgers on their private deck off from their apartment away from the other guests. Caroline was showing me the sea glass that she wanted to find yet on her IPad. My mom was in the kitchen making side dishes. I asked her if she wanted help, but I think she was happy to see Caroline and me hitting it off so well. She even sat on my lap as her finger swiped the pages on her handheld computer.

  Jason got onto her for not cleaning her plate and then made her get down from walking across the banister with her hands out, balancing herself. I was amused. This was what a real family was supposed to be like, and I hoped to someday have a little girl just like Caroline.

  “Want a play a game?” Caroline asked, joining us back at the table.

  “Let Morgan eat, Caroline,” Jason scolded.

  “It’s not that kind of game dad. She can eat and talk, can’t she?”

  I laughed as I grabbed my napkin from being taken away from the wind. I knew too that there was a storm brewing. I could feel it.

  “I can talk and eat,” I said. I wanted to do whatever this little girl asked me to do.

  “Okay, it’s called the nosey game,” she started to explain.

  “No, Caroline,” her dad insisted. I took it that he knew exactly what game she wanted to play.

  “She can say, Nosey Rosy if she wants to,” she exclaimed.

  “It’s fine,” I assured him. He shook his head.

  “Okay. So I ask you a question and you have to answer. If you don’t want to answer you just say Nosey Rosy, but I get to pinch your cheeks,” she explained.

  “Caroline is an expert at making up games to figure people out,” my mom said. I didn’t mind. I thought it was cute.

  “You can go first,” she said, ignoring our mother.

  “What grade are you in?” I asked.

  “I’m going to be in second when school starts. What is your favorite color?” she asked.

  “Pink. What is your favorite subject?” I saw her eyes light up when I said pink. I was sure that it was her favorite color too.

  “I hate school, my favorite subject is art. What’s your middle name?”

  “Joyce, after my grandmother.”

  Her mouth plopped open. “Mine too, were we named after the same grandma, mom?” She asked, turning to our mother.

  “Yes. You were both named after the same sweet lady,” she smiled.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked.

  “I have a husband,” I wasn’t about to tell her that I had both. “Do you have a boyfriend?” I countered.

  “Nosey Rosy,” she giggled. We all laughed, and I pinched her cheeks.

  We played the game until Jason said that was enough. The wind was really starting to get strong, and we needed to get things carried into the house.

  We ate pie and had coffee later on with the guests in the dining room. The wind was howling, and we could hear the thunder in a distance. It wasn’t even close to being time for it to be dark yet, but the storm made it look as if it was ten o’clock at night.

  “This is going to be a good one,” Caroline said, standing in front of the glass doors.

  “Get away from the glass, Caroline,” Jason demanded.

  She was like me. She couldn’t stop staring out at the wicked weather. The lighting looked like it would strike the house at any second. The waves were massive, coming from an angry sea. The wind whipped through the house like it was trying to carry it off, and the thunder set it all in stone. About ten minutes later the lights flickered and then went out. I was a little scared. Caroline on the other hand was excited. I assumed she had been through many storms, living that close to the ocean.

  “I’ll get the generator going,” Jason said, excusing himself.

  My mom ushered us all into the sitting area, and we played charades with the guests by the dim lit generator lights. I laughed so hard at Caroline. She was quite the little ham and wasn’t shy a bit.

  The storm had quieted down, and everyone retreated to their rooms. Caroline had her own bathroom, and we both grabbed very quick showers in the dark. The lights still hadn’t come on when Caroline and I crawled into our beds.

  My mom came in as soon as we were in bed. “Are we reading tonight?” she asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” Caroline said, grabbing the hardback book from the nightstand between us. “Can we start over, so Morgan knows what’s going on?” she asked.

  “I guess since we are only on chapter three.”

  “Okay,” she said, sitting up and crossing her legs Indian style. “We have to read three chapters, so Morgan
can read too.”

  My mom smiled and rubbed her back. “Okay,” she agreed. Caroline leaned into my mom’s chest and began to read. I’m not even sure what she was reading. I was too busy reading into what I was witnessing. I didn’t remember my mother ever reading a book to me or my brother.

  “Tran, tranq, tranquitity,” Caroline paused, trying to sound out a word.

  “Tranquility,” my mom, said helping her out.

  “What’s that mean?” she asked, looking up to her.

  “It means quiet, calmness, stillness,” she answered.

  “Oh, like peace. That makes sense,” she decided and got back to her reading.

  I loved the affectionate look in my mother’s eyes as she stared at me. She really was happy that I was there. She read the next chapter and then I read the next. I had actually started getting into the book when my chapter was over. It was about a ten year old boy and an eight year old girl, lost on an island.

  Caroline and I both lay down, and my mom tucked her and kissed her on the head.

  “I love you,” she said.

  “Love you too, mom.”

  I wasn’t sure how to react to my mother’s affection when she did the same thing to me. She pulled my quilt up and kissed me on the head just like she had Caroline. She brushed my hair from my forehead and kissed me too.

  “I love you, Morgan, and I am so glad that you are here.”

  “Me too,” I said. I couldn’t make myself tell her that I loved her too. I could only remember her saying it once in my life, and that was when she left me. I wasn’t ready to say that just yet.

  I woke to Caroline shaking me in the morning.

  “Morgan, come on. It’s day light,” she said, trying to coax me out of bed.